TYPES OF PHOTOGRAPHERS (Part-1 )

There are approximately fifty types of Photographers, you may be familiar with the Portrait Photographers and the Wedding Photographers who also take graduation pictures, you may also be familiar with the Press Photographer who works for the newspapers producing images to illustrate the news.

The Magazine Photographer submits an idea for a story, if the magazine Editor decides to do the story the photographer must do research and produce pictures that tell the story in the form of a photo essay. Some photographers are also photojournalists able to tell the story with a single picture or a group of pictures called a photo essay .

The Advertising Photographer does pictures designed to make products look appealing to the consumer, you have seen these pictures in catalogs magazines and newspapers. An example of this is the Fashion Photographer who takes pictures of models wearing the latest designs in clothes and jewelry.

Two types of Photographers that are not so well known are the Scientific Photographer and the Medical Photographer, both are in high demand. The Scientific Photographer takes pictures designed to illustrate scientific discoveries, think of  pictures of the planets in our galaxy. These photographers are in high demand and are sometimes hired by the government (NASA)

The Medical Photographer provides images that illustrate Biological and Medical information, think of pictures of Blood Cells or Viruses. The Scientific and Medical Photographers combine their knowledge of photography with their knowledge of Biology , Chemistry, and artistic skills.

For these careers you need a two year college education resulting in an associates degree or a four year college education resulting in a Bachelors degree. Salaries are somewhere between $25,000 to $52,000 US Yearly. Everyone knows the Paparazzi who boast salaries of $100,000 to $200.000 US Yearly, there are other types of photographers and I will post that list at a later date.

DIGITAL CAMERAS

Digital Cameras can be divided into three categories:
(1) The Point and Shoot Digital Camera.
(2) The High End Point and Shoot Digital Camera.
(3) The DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex)Camera.

The Point and Shoot Is the most popular, least expensive and easiest to operate. It has Full Programed exposure, Auto Focus and a built-in flash unit, in Full programed mode you point the camera at the subject, confirm that the subject is composed to your satisfaction by looking at your LCD screen then press the shutter release button,that's it.

These cameras take great pictures most have impressive features like multi exposure modes, red eye reduction, 3X optical zoom lenses, 5 to 10 Mega pixels(Image Sensor Resolution) plus the option to make your own prints. The main difference between the Point and Shoot Digital Camera and the High End Point and Shoot Digital Camera is there are more features on the High End that appeal to the advanced amateur photographer who always wants to do more.

See: High End Point and Shoot Digital Cameras, posted 09/24/09 and The DSLR Camera posted 8/21/09

Photographer

This photographer could be a model working both sides of the camera.

High End Point and Shoot Digital Cameras

High End Point and Shoot Digital Cameras take Point and Shoot to a higher level, almost as good as the DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras, the latest models have fantastic features like:
(1 ) Face detection technology where the camera detects faces in an image, focuses on those areas of the frame ensuring sharpness and best exposure.
(2) 20x Optical Zoom lenses equivatent to 28mm-560mm(35mm photography) this lens is great for Sports.
(3) Many Scene and Situation modes sch as Landscape, Action and Portraiture.
(4) Pop-up flash plus a hot shoe for auxiliary flash units.
(5) Optical Image Stabilization to prevent camera shake which makes the image blurry.
(6) HD Video shooting capability.
(7) Bracketing,where you set the camera to take one photo at regular settings then one lighter and one darker than the first, you can then choose the exposure you think is best.

The main difference between these cameras and the DSLR is, the DSLR lens is interchangeable and you may have thirty or forty lenses available for your brand and model.
See:The DSLR Camera, Posted 8/21/09

New Template

I am sure you noticed the new look, which I think is easy on the eyes. All posts are as they were before, let me know how you like the new look.

THE DSLR CAMERA

If you love photography and you are not satisfied with programed exposures, if you feel that you want more from your camera, try a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera.
With this camera possibilities are limitless, light enters the lens and is reflected off a mirror in the camera body to the optical viewfinder, when you look through the viewfinder you are looking through the lens (TTL). What you see is what you will get in the final print.

A DSLR has all the usual exposure modes, Programed Mode, Aperture Priority Mode, Shutter Priority Mode and all the usual Situation Modes, Night Portraiture, Landscape Photography, Action-Sports Photography (etc) the fun really begins when you select Manual Exposure. You can decide what to do with the background in your picture, make it sharp or blur it.

The shutter speeds are unbelievable, up to 1/4000 of a second for fast action shots and as slow as 30 seconds for pictures of multiple bursts of lightning or fireworks plus some DSLR cameras have a bulb setting so you can leave the shutter open for several minutes.

You can take a picture by candlelight with no flash by manually selecting a wide aperture and slow shutter speed to capture low light situations, (Available Light Photography). If you take pictures of large groups of people your pop-up flash may not be adequate, most DSLR cameras have a hot shoe for accessory flash units so you can purchase a powerful flash unit , slip it into the hot shoe and light up the night.

Most DSLR cameras are upgradable, they have interchangeable lenses, you can buy longer lenses to photograph subjects in the distance or wider lenses for panorama landscape shots. There are many accessories available, lens hoods, remote shutter releases, filters, devices to enable off-camera Flash operation (etc), the most important thing is you will take amazing pictures.

THE CAMERA'S MODE DIAL

The Camera's Mode Dial is usually on the top of the Camera next to the shutter release button, it can also be located on the rear of the Camera next to the LCD display. The latest Mode Dials control three categories: Exposure Modes, Scene or Situation Modes and Movie Mode.

The Exposure Modes:
(1) Program (P): The camera selects the aperture, the shutter speed, and focuses the lens as the shutter release button is depressed.
(2) Aperture Priority (A)or (AV): You select the Aperture the Camera selects the shutter speed and focuses the lens as the shutter release button is depressed
(3) Shutter Priority (S) or (TV): You select the shutter speed, the Camera selects the matching Aperture and focuses the lens as the shutter release button is depressed.
(4) Manual (M): The photographer is in full control of Exposure, selecting Aperture and Shutter speed manually.

See the Post on Exposure dated 12/26/2008.

The Scene or Situation Modes:(Full automatic Modes)
(1)Portrait: The Icon shows the head and shoulder of a person, in this Mode the Camera selects a Aperture that makes the subject sharp but renders the background out of focus.
(2) Landscape: The Icon shows two pointy mountains with a small cloud over the shorter mountain. In this Mode the Camera selects a small aperture so the picture is in sharp focus, foreground and background.
(3) Action: The Icon shows a figure running, in this Mode the Camera selects a fast shutter speed to freeze the action of fast moving subjects.
(4) Night Portrait: The Icon shows the head and shoulders of a person in the foreground, the background is black with a star at the top. In this Mode the Camera selects a slow shutter speed to expose the background while using the flash unit to expose the foreground.

DIGITAL TERMINOLOGY

Digital Camera: A camera that takes still photographs/videos digitally, recording the image on a light sensitive sensor.

Digital picture frame: An electronic picture frame that displays digital photographs stored on a memory card. Some digital frames have internal memory.

Digital Zoom: You select a section of an image the camera enlarges that area making it the final image, this usually results in a loss of image quality.

Flash Memory: Memory that can be erased and reprogrammed and needs no power to maintain storage of data.

Image Sensor: Digital cameras have Image Sensors which convert optical images to electric signals.

Internal Memory: Memory built into the camera, you can store 10-30 images depending on the amount of available memory.

LCD: An acronym for Liquid Crystal Display.

Megapixel: One million pixels, the term is used to express the number of image sensor elements in a digital camera and the number of pixels in a digital image or digital display.

Memory: Storage space where images can be stored untill you are ready to view them.

Memory Card: Card that fits into a slot on your digital camera or frame and expands your storage space. A one gigabyte SD card can store One thousand images.

Memory Card Types: Compact Flash (CF), Memory Stick (MS), Secure Digital (SD) and xD.

Optical Zoom: the lens is used to zoom in on a section of the subject, that section becomes the final image. there is no loss of image quality.

Pixel: Based on two words "Pix" from Pictures and "El" from Element. A pixel is the smallest piece of information in an image, it takes many pixels to provide a accurate representation of the original images.

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THE CAMERA

There are film Cameras and there are Digital Cameras, the difference is Film Cameras record the image on film which is an emulsion on a base (clear plastic,) and the Digital Camera records the image on a light sensitive sensor after converting the optical image to electrical signals.

The Camera is a light-proof box, light enters only through the lens, as you point your Camera towards a subject light is reflected in a straight line from each point of the subject into the Camera through the Lens Aperture, the lens focuses the image and as you press the shutter button the shutter opens to expose the film or light sensitive sensor to this focused light, the image is now recorded.

There are different types of Cameras, the Point and Shoot fully automatic Camera is the most popular, you point the camera towards the subject look through the Viewfinder or at the LCD, compose your shot then gently press the shutter button,

The Camera automatically sets the Aperture, shutter-speed, focuses on the subject and exposes the film or light sensitive sensor, recording the image.

Some Cameras give you the Option of shooting in automatic mode (Programed), shooting in (Aperture Priority) mode where you choose the Aperture and the Camera selects the shutter-speed, (shutter Priority) mode where you choose the shutter and the Camera selects the Aperture or (Manual) mode where you take full creative control of Aperture, shutter and if you wish, Focus.

VACATION PHOTOGRAPHS

This Video demonstrates how to take great pictures of places and people you see as you travel, in your own neighbourhood or away on vacation, this video will help you to get that winning shot.

EXPOSURE COMPENSATION

This photo shows a normal exposure for a back-lit subject, highlights are well exposed but back-lit shadow areas are dark and without detail.

This photo was given one stop more exposure than the one above, that is (+1.0)

You have taken pictures of a snow scene and the prints from your shoot show snow that is gray in color instead of white snow like the original scene, you have taken pictures with the sun in the background your prints show a well exposed sun but objects in the foreground, grass, trees, buildings are shown as black silhouettes with no detail. In both instances you could correct the exposure using a photo editing program or you can make a in-camera adjustment before taking the picture.

This adjustment is done by opening the aperture one to two f-stops to compensate for that gray snow,dark foreground, opening the aperture supplies more light to the film or digital sensor, making the image brighter.
to make the image darker you would close the aperture one or two stops.

Most modern Digital Cameras have built in Exposure Compensation, if you want to make the image brighter by two stops you set the compensation display to ( +2.0 ) if you want to make the image darker by two stops you set the Compensation display to ( -2.0 ). Fill-flash is a good alternative to the above method of exposure.